Report: Sheila Jackson Lee is ‘worst boss’ on Capitol Hill

Houston Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee is a tough boss. Even she will tell you that.

After all, one former staff member famously told the conservative web site The Daily Caller that the Democratic congressman once declared, “I’m a queen, and I demand to be treated like one.”

A 2011 Texas on the Potomac investigation revealed that Jackson Lee went through more staff more quickly than any other member of the Texas congressional delegation. Now, a new study by the Washington Times found that the veteran Texas Democrat had the highest turnover rate for all of Congress over the past decade.

The study found that Texas lawmakers are notoriously difficult bosses and had far more staff turnover than the average Capitol Hill office. Ten current and former Texas lawmakers were listed among the top 10 percent of offices for staff turnover.

Eight Republicans and two Democrats were among the list of highest-turnover offices. (More on that later.)

But the highlight of the Times report was Jackson Lee. Here’s how it characterized her record:

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, Texas Democrat, has a reputation as one of the toughest taskmasters in Congress to have as a boss, and the numbers appear to justify it.

The Washington Times analyzed a decade of congressional pay records to find the offices with the highest turnover rates and found 27 members who — over a period of four or more years — lost an annual average of at least one-third of their staff who sought calmer pastures or were fired.

Each year, an average of half of Mrs. Jackson Lee’s staff quits, and one year, all but six of 23 staffers left.

Here are the top ten Texas offices for staff turnover and the annual turnover rate, according to the Times data: